Business students take top honors at collegiate DECA conference

Western Today staff

March 11, 2014

Western Washington University business students took top honors at the 2014 Collegiate DECA Pacific Northwest Career Development Conference on Feb. 20 to 22 in Seattle.

The group of students competed in business simulations, case studies or prepared presentations with varying career focuses such as project management, marketing and emerging technologies.

Western brought the largest student delegation, which competed against colleges from Washington and British Columbia, including the University of Washington, Washington State University and Gonzaga University. Students presented to business professionals from the Seattle area, creating a link between their studies and real life business scenarios. In addition to professional experience students were vying to qualify for spots at Collegiate DECA’s International Career Development Conference held in Washington D.C on April 23-26. The Collegiate DECA ICDS brings roughly 2,000 college students together from around the world to compete in business simulations and scenarios.

This is the fourth year Western DECA has competed at the PNCDC and is their most successful one to date. Among many honors, Western received four 1st place, four 2nd place and five 3rd place awards. Those 13 top three awards equaled 19 top three finishes for Western, as some students competed in teams of two or three. An additional eight competitors qualified to move on to the ICDC with Western finishing with 27 spots at the international competition held in Washington D.C.

The following competitors placed in the top three:

  • Jai Mannatt (Victoria, BC), International Marketing (team), 1st place
  • Josh Snyder (Woodinville), International Marketing (team), 1st place
  • Elle McGlocklin (Port Angeles/Edmonds), Marketing Management, 1st place
  • Spencer Martenson (Woodinville), Sports and Entertainment Marketing (team), 1st place
  • Alex White (Woodinville), Sports and Entertainment Marketing (team), 1st place
  • Tyler Dyer (Kent), Project Management, 1st place, Marketing Management, 2nd place
  • Hannah Bouscher (Spokane), Advertising Campaign (team), 2nd place
  • Hayden LeMaster (Sumner), Advertising Campaign (team), 2nd place
  • McCall Schilling (Kenmore), Advertising Campaign (team), 2nd place
  • Michelle Diep (Everett), Business to Business (team), 2nd place
  • Nathan Nguyen (Everett), Business to Business (team), 2nd place
  • Kaleb Ode (Sumner), Human Resource Management, 2nd place
  • Bruce Lu (Nanning, China), Emerging Technologies, 3rd place
  • Evina Tan (Bellevue), Emerging Technologies, 3rd place
  • Liz Reynolds (Vancouver), Hospitality, 3rd place
  • Lauren Molitor (Anacortes), Human Resource Management, 3rd place
  • Austin Sweeny (Maple Valley), Retail Management, 3rd place
  • Haylie Cannon (Bonney Lake), Sports and Entertainment Marketing (team), 3rd place
  • Taylor Hope (Mill Creek), Sports and Entertainment Marketing (team), 3rd place

Western’s DECA members have already started raising funds to attend the national conference in April. Anyone interested in sponsoring the club’s trip to Washington D.C., or who want more information, should contact chapter president Kaleb Ode at wwudeca@gmail.com.